Cyprus Bureau of Shipping

Maintenance is the subject of the world’s biggest occupational health and safety campaign which is co-ordinated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and its partners in the 27 EU Member States. The Healthy Workplaces Campaign 2010/11 supports a wide range of activities at the national and European level to promote safe maintenance. It highlights the importance of maintenance to eliminate workplace hazards, and to provide safer and healthier working conditions in workplaces throughout Europe.

Our campaign has two main messages. Firstly, that maintenance is vital to keep machines and work environment safe and reliable - lack of maintenance or inadequate maintenance can cause serious and deadly accidents or health problems. Secondly, maintenance itself is a high-risk activity and it has to be performed in a safe way, with appropriate protection of maintenance workers and other people present in the workplace.

With the campaign, we want to raise awareness of the importance of maintenance for workers’ safety and health and of the risks associated with maintenance and in the same time, encourage employers to consider health and safety aspects in maintenance.

Facts and figures

Maintenance is essential to prevent workplace risks, but it is itself a high risk activity for the workers that carry it out. Figures from several European countries indicate that in 2006 around 10-15% of all fatal accidents were related to maintenance operations. It is essential to implement appropriate risk assessment procedures for maintenance operations, as well as employing adequate preventive measures to ensure the safety and health of workers involved in maintenance activities. 

Maintenance-specific risks

In addition to the risks associated with any working environment, maintenance operations involve some specific risks. These include working alongside a running process and in close contact with machinery. Automation typically diminishes the likelihood of human error that can lead to accidents. In maintenance activities, contrary to normal operation, direct contact between the worker and machine cannot be reduced substantially - it is an activity where workers need to be in close contact with processes. Maintenance operations typically include both disassembly and reassembly, often involving complicated machinery. This can be associated with a greater risk of human error and a higher risk of accidents.

Maintenance often involves exceptional work, non-routine tasks and it is often performed in exceptional conditions, such as working in confined spaces, or weekend and night work. Working under time-pressure is also typical for maintenance operations, especially when shutdowns or high-priority repairs are involved.

Workers are at greater risk when they are working in unfamiliar and frequently changing environments. It is not surprising, therefore, that the subcontracting of maintenance is an aggravating factor in terms of safety and health – numerous accidents and incidents relate to subcontracting maintenance. Data from France shows that, in 2005, maintenance was the most subcontracted function in industry, and that in 2002 maintenance employees were the second most frequent victims of accidents related to subcontracting (after construction workers).

European legislation creates the framework for good practice in maintenance.

Since 1989, a number of European directives have been adopted, laying down a general framework of minimum requirements for the protection of workers at the workplace. These directives also apply to maintenance activities, first and foremost Council Directive 89/391 – the "Framework Directive", including the obligation for the employers to carry out a risk assessment at work.
The Framework Directive lays down the general principles concerning the prevention and protection of workers against occupational accidents and diseases. It contains the general principles of prevention, lays down employers’ obligations concerning the assessment of risks, the elimination of risks and accident factors, the informing, consultation and balanced participation and training of workers and their representatives.

The European Commission produced a Guidance on risk assessment at work to help employers and employees to implement the risk assessment requirements of the Framework Directive. In this guide, maintenance workers were identified as «workers who may be at increased risk». The guide also points out the need to conduct a separate risk assessment for maintenance activities.

On the basis of the Framework Directive a series of individual directives were adopted, all relevant for carrying out maintenance in a safe way. Many of them include specific provisions regarding maintenance activities and requirements for maintenance to eliminate workplace hazards.
For example, a number of individual Directives have been enacted controlling the exposure of workers to potentially damaging physical agents in the workplace such as vibration, noise, electromagnetic fields, optical radiation and ionizing radiation. These directives include a provision aimed at avoiding or reducing exposure among others by means of appropriate maintenance programmes for work equipment, the workplace and workplace systems.

For more information on European legislation see http://osha.europa.eu/en/legislation/